Radisson on brink of InterContinental buy

Privately owned London-based hotel group Radisson Edwardian is rumoured to be buying the five-star May Fair InterContinental hotel from the InterContinental Hotels Group.

The 289-bedroom May Fair InterContinental was put up for sale last year after a number of unsolicited offers were made for it.

A consortium of buyers, rumoured to include Cola Holdings, which already owns the nearby Westbury hotel in Mayfair, then agreed to buy the InterContinental for £130m in May this year. But last month the deal was said to have fallen through.

Radisson Edwardian refused to comment on the acquisition rumours, but insiders close to the deal said the sale was expected to be agreed within the next week.

Radisson Edwardian is also opening a new £35m hotel on the Syon Park estate in west London. The group plans to start work on the five-star, 155-bedroom property later this year but has not yet set an opening date.

The hotel will feature a reception area with a large open log fire, a dining room with an open cloistered terrace and garden, a bar, 445sq m of meeting and banqueting space, and a spa, gym, studio and swimming pool.

Syon Park is the home of the 10th Duke of Northumberland and was featured in director Robert Altman's 2001 movie, Gosford Park.

Radisson Edwardian has also just finished an £8m refurbishment of its four-star 101-bedroom Sussex hotel, and is about to start work on the 148 bedrooms of its Berkshire hotel on London's Oxford Street.

The group is spending about £13m upgrading the hotel from a four-star to a five-star property.

By Samantha McClary

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 31 July - 6 August 2003